Saturday, December 5, 2015

The Passage to Manhood

Over 90 years ago, Warner Brothers
released “The Jazz Singer,” starring Al Jolson. It was the story of young Jakie
Rabinowitz, who runs away from his home and his Jewish heritage to become a
jazz singer. Ultimately, his father’s illness brings him back home, and he
sings Kol Nidre as the spirit of his father hovers nearby.

Fast forward nine decades to
Playhouse on Park in West Hartford and we have “Passing Strange,” directed by
Sean Harris and exuberantly choreographed by Darlene Zoller, in which a young
black man, simply called Youth (Eric R. Williams), a neophyte songwriter and
musician, rejects his heritage and leaves his home and his mother in search of
his Muse, traveling first to Amsterdam and then to Berlin, gaining experience
and lessons about the heart, only to be called back to Los Angeles, his home,
at the news of the death of his mother.

Famecia Ward and Eric R. Williams

If it worked once, why not again?
This time around, the music is a blend of hip-hop and rock, and the young man’s
experiences are a bit more physical and visceral, but the plot line, delivered
by the Narrator (Darryl Jovan Williams), remains essentially the same. With
book and lyrics by Stew and music by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, this artistic coming
of age odyssey (in German it’s called a Kunstlerroman)
is nothing if not energetic. The cast of seven, including Famecia Ward, Karissa
Harris, Skyler Volpe, J’royce and Garrett Turner, backed by a hard-driving
quartet of musicians, is in almost constant motion throughout the entire
two-plus hours of the show, generating enough energy to power most of the
businesses on Park Road.
The actors roam and romp freely about the thrust-stage area and often invade
the house with a lot of in-your-face antics that both titillate and ignite the
audience.

But…does this work? The answer is
yes and no, for there are times when things get just a bit muddy and you are
not sure what is happening or, more importantly, what is being sung. Though the
musical is not entirely sung-through, there are many moments that can only be
explicated by hearing the lyrics, sometimes a difficult task.

Garrett Turner, J'Royce, and Karissa Harris

However, there are other moments,
and they are many, when things are crystal clear, as when our “hero” equates
gospel with rock in the "Blues
Revelation/Freight Train" number, or in the over-the top “It’s All
Right” number, which is reprised after the curtain. There’s a humorous satire
on French New Wave films and a lengthy Berlin sequence that has the Youth
participating in a May Day riot (in which scenic designer Emily Nichols’ set is
de-constructed to successfully evoke chaos), which leads to "The System
Does All Kinds of Damage,” with Turner intimidating the audience with his
character’s existential/nihilistic mantra. When it’s suggested by the
inhabitants of a Berlin hostel that the Youth doesn’t belong because he hasn’t
suffered enough, Williams bewails his former life as an oppressed black youth
(all fabricated), which garners him accolades and acceptance and leads to the
witty “The Black One” number.

Oddly enough, this is also a memory
play – or musical – for if you note the footwear worn by both the Narrator and
the Youth, you realize that the two characters are one in the same, separated
by decades and experience. This, which is subtly hinted at through costume and
dialogue in the early parts of the musical, makes the final funeral scene, when
Narrator and Youth confront each other, especially poignant. A question,
however, might arise – is the link just a tad too subtle? Would “Passing
Strange” be more comprehensible, and more moving, if the connection between the
two characters was more overt from the start? Well, maybe it is – all you have
to do is look at the photograph on the cover of the show’s program to get the
message (would that the photo have included the red, low-cut sneakers both
characters wear).

Eric R. Williams, Karissa Harris and Garnett Turner

The musical’s title is an allusion
to a line from “Othello (“She swore, in faith 'twas strange, 'twas passing
strange”), but it can also refer to light-skinned blacks “passing” for whites
(something Youth’s grandmother did), as well as the Middle Passage, part of the
journey into slavery for millions of Africans (Youth, having become “The Black
One,” performs a number in chains that alludes to this). Finally, the title can
also refer to the always strange passage of time, if reflected upon in
retrospect, that allows Youth to mature into the man he will become (hence the
“Passing Phase” number sung by the Narrator and Youth near the end of the
show). Whatever the interpretation, and even though the musical had a Broadway
run that was well received (and was subsequently filmed by Spike Lee), the book
could still use some trimming and some of the musical numbers could be
shortened without ill effect.

This is a multi-faceted work that
is probably best appreciated with a second viewing – if you know “what’s going
on” you are more likely to fill in some of the blanks yourself, musical numbers
that seem to stand alone upon first viewing will generate connections, and
allusions will be more easily grasped. In any event, kudos to Playhouse on Park
for opting to stage this somewhat challenging work, and to a cast that, if
nothing else, gives its all to help make for an evening of theater that, while
demanding, will resonate on many levels during the drive home.

“Passing Strange” runs through Dec.
20. For tickets or more information call 860-523-5900, X10, or go to www.playhouseonpark.org